Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Part of Litchfield National Park.
This lovely path was a project
to teach new skills
to a group of unemployed people.
Kindness in the community.

So I have been trying to think kind thoughts while I am involved in the kindness challenge. Successful? A bit.

I was kind to my husband. He had a bad cold and took some tablets for that. Hmm. The result was violent dreaming, jumping around in his sleep, yelling, and so forth. It takes more than that to scare me, or actually even to worry me. But I did not poke him in the arm and tell him to roll over - that is my usual strategy for nightmares. Kindness. I did not blame him the next morning for an interrupted night. I was kind and just asked if he recalled his dreams. Yes, he did. No, they were not particularly nice. This happened only a few nights until we worked out that the tablets were the cause. The kind approach certainly helped us both.

I have remembered that advice about being compassionate to myself as well as to others. It's working too. I think I am a little more positive in general.

I had a meeting at my university about getting credit for some previous study. Yes, I remained almost calm. Well, if not calm at least polite. One of the people at the meeting seems to take pleasure in being a bully. Well, it failed this time. So she can just take her attitude and change it. The outcome for me was positive. I am now exempted from two units of study thanks to some other studies I did a while ago. Can you hear me cheering? I am overflowing with kind thoughts of the lecturers who guided me through that course a few years back. Thank you, especially Eva. And thank you, Nici. Anticipating this meeting was very confronting. I should have applied for the credits two years ago, but the bully won back then. This time I was able to plan carefully, gather some help, and then proceed. A huge project for me; an excellent outcome though.

I have not yet mastered the bit about getting back to the special Kindness Challenge website and leaving comments.

Tuesday, 17 May 2016

I am a rather cynical and bitter sort of person these days. Life can do that to you. But today I heard about a kindness challenge being run by Niki over at The Richness of a Simple Life. Good idea. I looked about and kindness challenges seem pretty popular. Well, it also appeals to me and I am hopeful I can become a better person by taking part. Kindness is surely the opposite of bullying. Kindness hurts no-one.

Here is a little badge to show involvement. I would post it in the proper place at the side, but at the moment that seems a bit tricky for me.

Niki's challenge has already been under way for a while, but that does not mean I can not benefit from it.

She has some lovely photos which gave me a necessary jolt. Thank you, Niki, for the picture and for the thought. Compassion for ourselves is a bit scarce. I guess other people my age were also taught to put themselves last, give the good things to others and never be greedy. Compassion for others. Now I can try a little of that for myself - and you should too.

If you copy this, like I did, remember to give Niki credit. Intellectual property is still property.